Neil Diamond

Neil Diamond – Velvet Gloves And Spit (1968/2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 34:23 minutes | 1,42 GB | Genre: Pop, Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Geffen

Neil Diamond’s debut LP for Uni Records and his earliest extant album, Velvet Gloves and Spit has appeared in two distinctly different versions. Originally issued in October of 1968 as a ten-song LP with a photograph of Diamond in close-up on the cover, it attracted relatively little attention despite some excellent songs and one bold (if heavy-handed and misguided) effort at serious, topical songwriting. That album never sold well — none of Diamond’s albums did in those days — and two years later, in October of 1970, it was re-released with a new cover, featuring an artist’s rendition of Diamond, and an 11th song — Diamond’s version of “Shilo,” which he’d previously recorded for Bang Records — added to it. Apart from “Shilo,” most of the record was cut in New York (as opposed to the smoother, more subtly soulful, elegant sounding Memphis-based recordings that would follow) and a lot of Velvet Gloves and Spit sounds closer in texture to “Cherry Cherry” and the other sides cut by Diamond during his Brill Building phase at Bang Records through 1967, than to “Sweet Caroline” and the other records with which Diamond closed out the ’60s. There are some fine songs here, including “Honey Dripping Time,” “Practically Newborn,” “Holiday Inn Blues,” and “Sunday Sun,” and “Two-Bit Manchild” is a fascinating adaptation of his Brill Building-era sound to a personal/introspective lyric and approach (imagine the Monkees’ sound melded to a singer/songwriter persona). To appreciate this album, however, one must get past “The Pot Smoker’s Song,” a heavy-handed, anti-drug, bubblegum pop number, patterned roughly after Simon & Garfunkel’s “Old Friends/Bookends,” with trippy spoken word testimonials about the dangers of drugs (including one addict who claims to shoot heroin into his spine), punctuated by Diamond’s ridiculous sing-song chorus (“Pot, pot/Gimme some pot/Forget who you are/You can be who you’re not”). It’s a strangely fascinating artifact and helps distinguish Velvet Gloves and Spit from Diamond’s catalog of uneven albums. Also present is “Shilo,” recorded at Chips Moman’s American Studios in Memphis, which jumps ahead, presenting Diamond in his next stylistic phase with the sound that would carry him into the ’70s. – Bruce Eder & Stephen Thomas Erlewine

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Neil Diamond – Touching You, Touching Me (1969/2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 31:11 minutes | 1,30 GB | Genre: Pop, Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Geffen

Diamond’s first regular album release to sell in substantial numbers, Touching You, Touching Me contains the gold Top Ten single “Holly Holy,” and a Diamond composition, but is mostly notable for its covers of standards by other songwriters: “Everybody’s Talkin’,” “Mr. Bojangles,” “Both Sides Now,” and the chart entry “Until It’s Time for You to Go.” These helped signal that Diamond was thinking of himself less as a Brill Building hack than as a peer of Fred Neil, Jerry Jeff Walker, Joni Mitchell, and Buffy Sainte-Marie. – William Ruhlmann

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Neil Diamond – Serenade (1974/2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 32:51 minutes | 1,40 GB | Genre: Pop, Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Neil Diamond

Serenade is the ninth studio album by Neil Diamond, released in 1974.

Neil Diamond’s first regular album release for Columbia Records, following the success of the movie soundtrack Jonathan Livingston Seagull, Serenade is a slight effort characterized by Diamond’s attempts to make pop sentiments seem more profound by grafting more auspicious art references onto them. But whether he’s name-dropping Picasso or Longfellow, Diamond still has greeting card sentiments on his mind. Nevertheless, the catchiest of these autodidactic exercises, “Longfellow Serenade,” which combines comments about “winged flight” with the exhortation, “Come on, baby, ride,” was a Top Ten hit.
– William Ruhlmann

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Neil Diamond – Primitive (1984/2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 39:54 minutes | 887 MB | Genre: Pop, Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Neil Diamond

Primitive attempts to capitalize on the easy listening success of Heartlight by replicating its sound and structure. In other words, it’s another collection of romantic ballads delivered with immaculate production. Diamond’s collaborations with Burt Bacharach (“Turn Around,” “Sleep With Me Tonight,” “Crazy”) show some signs of life, particularly the graceful “Turn Around,” provide the highlights of the album. – Stephen Thomas Erlewine

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Neil Diamond – Moods (1972/2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 33:34 minutes | 763 MB | Genre: Pop, Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Geffen

Moods finds Neil Diamond attempting to craft a more ambitious and substantial album than his usual pop record through heavy orchestration, but the results only work when he sticks to catchy pop-rock, as on “Song Sung Blue,” “High Rolling Man,” and “Play Me.” – Stephen Thomas Erlewine

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Neil Diamond – I’m Glad You’re Here With Me Tonight (1977/2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 39:17 minutes | 842 MB | Genre: Pop, Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Neil Diamond

I’m Glad You’re Here With Me Tonight suffers from stilted, polished production, and a poor selection of songs; “Free Man in Paris” and “God Only Knows” may be great songs, but they’re not suited to Diamond’s easy listening arrangements. Only “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” stands out among the bland filler, and that is better heard on his subsequent album, also titled You Don’t Bring Me Flowers. – Stephen Thomas Erlewine

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Neil Diamond – Home Before Dark (2008/2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:02:59 minutes | 1,24 GB | Genre: Pop, Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Neil Diamond

Home Before Dark is Neil Diamond’s second collaboration with producer Rick Rubin. It follows the fine but ill-fated 12 Songs, which was sabotaged by Sony’s “Rootkit” program scandal: a nefarious bit of “copy protection” software that invaded the operating system of PCs and wreaked havoc. 12 Songs had to be recalled from store shelves just as Diamond received better reviews than he had in a decade. Sony reissued it in 2007, but the damage was done. Diamond, disappointed but undaunted, sought out Rubin. Rubin enlisted Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench and lead guitarist Mike Campbell, studio guitarist/bassist Smokey Hormel, and former Chavez guitar slinger Matt Sweeney. There are no drums. David Campbell did some skeletal string arrangements, but that’s it. In addition, Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks duets on the track “Another Day (That Time Forgot).” Home Before Dark is a more exposed Diamond than listeners have ever heard. He’s out there, bashing on his guitar and singing from a position of extreme vulnerability; he’s on a wire without a net. His musicians understand what is so dynamically and poetically evident in the songs, and use painterly care in adorning them. Diamond is not a young man anymore and, thankfully, he doesn’t write like one — though he sounds lean and hungry for something just out of reach. “Forgotten” has a rock & roll progression worthy of his Bang singles. Its lyric reflects the travails of a protagonist whose heart bears hurt without the grace and wisdom that age is supposed to bring. The grain in his voice is fierce; it quavers just a bit in the refrain, and Sweeney’s electric guitar nails it to the wall. It follows “One More Bite of the Apple,” another rollicking rocker, but this one is about reuniting with his true beloved — songwriting itself. Home Before Dark contains some beautiful love songs, too. “If I Don’t See You Again,” the album’s opener, reflects the bittersweet aftertaste of lost love. It’s classic Diamond. His character converses with a reflection, a ghost. The gorgeously crafted instrumental bridge and the sense of loneliness in the protagonist’s voice combine seamlessly. The album’s first single is “Pretty Amazing Grace.” Diamond sings a prayer of gratitude for rescue and restoration, whether to Divine Providence, his lover, or both; we don’t know. His infectious, haunting melody is jarring, played in minor chords by fingerpicked steel-string guitars and anchored by a standup bass. Tench’s piano adds tension just before the refrain where the guitars get punchy flamenco-style and break it wide open. Strings decorate the backdrop, as the lyric juxtaposes the present against the past, not as contrast but as progression. The duet with Maines, “Another Day (That Time Forgot),” has shadowy traces of the gentle but brooding intensity of the intro to “Holly Holy” in the chord progression. It’s a joint confession between lovers who are lost to one another; the tragedy is they have no idea how they grew apart. Tench’s piano improv fills the space between verses; he underscores the melancholy gorgeously. “The Power of Two,” with multi-tracked, entwining acoustic guitar lines by Campbell, is an artful framework for one of Diamond’s protagonists to realize that he finally has the ability and courage to embrace another fully, and to allow himself to become a part of love instead of remaining apart from it. Home Before Dark is a less “civilized” album than anything Diamond’s done before. It is a stark and moving portrait of what an accepted artist found when he reached all the way down to face his fear, doubt, and knowledge, and brought the discovery into his work. Diamond proves not only that can he still write great songs, but also that he can deliver them with toughness and grit as an expression of real beauty. – Thom Jurek

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Neil Diamond – 12 Songs (2005/2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 49:58 minutes | 1020 MB | Genre: Pop Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Neil Diamond

12 Songs is the twenty-sixth studio album by Neil Diamond, released in 2005. It was his first studio album since 2001’s Three Chord Opera. It was produced by Rick Rubin.

The working title for the album was self-titled. The original pressing of the album was copy-protected using Sony’s controversial XCP technology.

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Neil Diamond – Acoustic Christmas (2016/2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24bit/96kHz | Time – 00:37:24 minutes | 773 MB | Genre: Pop, Christmas
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Capitol Records

Re-teaming with Don Was and Jacknife Lee, the pair who produced his 2014 album Melody Road, Neil Diamond cut Acoustic Christmas, his fourth holiday album and first since 2009’s A Cherry Cherry Christmas. The title Acoustic Christmas suggests that this 2016 LP will be sparse, but it’s hazy and open, consisting of much more than a man and a guitar. Usually he’s supported by a full band — a rhythm section, another guitarist, a keyboardist, and backing vocalists — and that gives Acoustic Christmas some spunk, which is enough to keep things lively. If Diamond isn’t always original — his version of “Children Go Where I Send Thee” follows the contours of Nick Lowe’s 2013 version exactly — he nevertheless performs with gusto, particularly on the closing “Christmas Medley.” That showmanship is ultimately what gives Acoustic Christmas its personality and is the reason to return to the record: it may not align with the spirit of the season, but it’s charming nonetheless.
– Stephen Thomas Erlewine

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Neil Diamond – Classic Diamonds With The London Symphony Orchestra (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 59:32 minutes | 1,99 GB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Capitol Records

The 14 classic song collection ‘Classic Diamonds’ features new vocals from Neil Diamond paired with a new interpretation of Diamond’s most celebrated chart-topping hits performed by The London Symphony Orchestra. Recorded at both the world famous Abbey Road Studios in London and Neil Diamond’s studio in Los Angeles, the album was produced by Grammy-winning producer/arranger Walter Afanasieff and co-arranged by Afanasieff and Grammy winning conductor/arranger William Ross, who also conducted The London Symphony Orchestra for the recording. Neil Diamond is simply one of the most important vocalists and songwriters in the history of popular music, and this majestic new album shines a beautiful spotlight on some of his greatest works.

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Neil Diamond – Three Chord Opera (2001/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/192 kHz | Time – 47:23 minutes | 2,05 GB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Neil Diamond

Columbia records billed Neil Diamond’s Three Chord Opera as his first album of all-original material in 27 years (since 1974’s Serenade), which was true, but deceptive. Diamond wrote most of his songs for most of his career, but often included cover songs on his albums. It would be more accurate to describe Three Chord Opera as Diamond’s first straightforward album in a decade, since he followed 1991’s Lovescape with a series of all-covers albums, hits compilations, Christmas albums, and live recordings; his last album containing mostly (co-written) originals was 1996’s country-oriented Tennessee Moon. However you date Diamond’s songwriting lay-off, though, the expectation is that the result will be a more personal statement than his recent albums, and it is, at least in part. Diamond begins with “I Haven’t Played This Song in Years,” a melancholy breakup song, and he returns to the theme of romantic loss on “Midnight Dream” and “A Mission of Love,” while even the songs of apparently contented love (“I Believe in Happy Endings,” “You Are the Best Part of Me,” “My Special Someone”) are dark around the edges. But Diamond is too conscious of pop conventions to devote a whole record to one mood, and, unable to break through a tendency toward cliché, he isn’t really capable of writing a sustained self-examination anyway. So, he varies the tone with novelty songs like “At the Movies” and “Baby Let’s Drive,” and turns to unabashed sentiment on the lullaby “Elijah’s Song” and the religious “Leave a Little Room for God.” When Diamond joined with songwriting collaborators in the early ’80s, his compositions became more homogenous, but less embarrassing, while his ’90s work fostered the impression of him as a non-writing performer. Three Chord Opera is the old Neil Diamond, a wildly uneven writer with a certain ingratiating style.

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Neil Diamond – The Christmas Album (1992/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/192 kHz | Time – 45:38 minutes | 1,91 GB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Neil Diamond

While Neil Diamond’s The Christmas Album is designed almost exclusively for his adult contemporary constituency, the vocalist still manages to light up most of the obviousness of these standards with his trademark gritty soul and flair for inflection. Opening with the grandeur of “O Come, O Come Emmanuel/We Three Kings of Orient Are” and “Silent Night,” the album is awash in rich reds and golds almost immediately. But Diamond has fun with “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town,” loosening up with a harmonica solo and a busy, up-tempo arrangement, and “Jingle Bell Rock” does just that with a 1950s doo wop vibe. These moves count as big risks on an album that otherwise tries on every possible Christmas album cliché: children’s choirs and histrionic adult ones, crashing cymbals, and tasteful piano that’s as warm as a fireplace in December. Thankfully, even when the choirs threaten to outdo him, Diamond keeps the focus on his famous singing voice. A stirring a capella version of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” is a good example of this, and one of The Christmas Album’s standouts.

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Neil Diamond – Lovescape (1991/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:00:47 minutes | 2,76 GB | Genre: Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Neil Diamond

Lovescape frames Neil Diamond’s typically strong, if a little over-dramatic, vocal style with plinking keyboards, cooing backup singers, and hissing, breathy synthesizers. It’s all drenched in the kind of reverb that screams “lite rock radio sap.” Fortunately, Diamond’s wine-stained voice is still full of emotion and more than capable of closing the album’s gaping holes with a just-right emphasis here and a plaintive growl there. “Mountains of Love”‘s sanitized world beat groove and keening horns would shrivel in anyone else’s hands. But when Neil sings “Come on let’s go/We’ve got room on that mountain of love,” you want to believe in his feed-the-world message and follow him right to the top of the peak (how does he climb in those ankle boots?). A strummed acoustic guitar slows down the Hammond/Warren composition “Don’t Turn Around,” letting it breathe like the classic “Red Red Wine” – Diamond’s take has none of the mechanization of Ace of Base’s later hit version. He has written or co-written 11 of Lovescape’s 15 tracks, and it’s his lilting, bruised heart duet with Kim Carnes that’s the obvious standout. Elsewhere, he covers “One Hand, One Heart” from West Side Story, refueling the ballad with his typical message of unification and peace, and buoys the faint country feel of “When You Miss Your Love” with a deft vocal touch, never letting it drift into dangerous Elton John territory. Although heaping helpings of synthesizer do their worst to slow him down, Diamond does his best with Lovescape’s material, and salvages a handful of memorable moments for longtime listeners or the casual fan.

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Neil Diamond – 50th Anniversary Collector’s Edition (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/192 kHz | Time – 06:51:58 minutes | 15,8 GB | Genre: Pop Rock
Studio Master, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Neil Diamond

Although UMe/Capitol already ‘celebrated’ Neil Diamond‘s 50 years in music 18 months ago with a three-disc set called the ’50th anniversary collection’ it seems they haven’t celebrated enough and so will this month offer forward the ’50th Anniversary Collectors Edition’ a six-disc hardcover book deluxe package that features the same artwork, but this time includes six CDs of content, including rarities, demos and 14 previously unreleased tracks.

This set contains a full disc of unreleased songs, including ‘Sunflower,’ (originally recorded by Glen Campbell recently updated by Neil Diamond), ‘Before I Had a Dime’ and ‘C’est La Vie’ (a song that Neil co-wrote with friend Gilbert Bécaud). Also unreleased are two original demos of ‘I Am…I Said’ and ‘America,’.

I suppose they’ve got there in the end, as this set is far more appealing than last year’s effort – and is reasonably priced – although one wonders whether Universal Music plan to release 50th anniversary editions of Neil Diamond’s output every year, going forward?

For now, this year’s Neil Diamond 50th Anniversary Collector’s Edition will be released on 30 November 2018.

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